The training bat devices of the prior art are designed for one of two purposes; either to train the muscles to swing the bat correctly or to develop the muscles to improve batting strength and velocity. General batting practice using a pitcher or a pitching machine is at times inefficient particularly with newer players who may not be able to even hit the ball. In this instance, the batter receives little accuracy or muscle strength training. A pitching machine does not add any resistance to the swing and does not strengthen the muscles to provide a more powerful swing. Examples of training devices of the prior art include those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,949,035 to Halsworth; 6,050,908 to Muhlsen; 6,030,299 to Denny; 5,595,384 to Hardison, Jr.; and 5,014,984 to Brockhoff.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,035 to Halsworth discloses a power swing training device that provides training and strengthening. The device is adjustable as to the direction or angle of the swing or by adding additional weights to gradually increase the body strength. This device provides a truncated training bat or other sports devices such as a tennis racquet, a golf club or a hockey stick.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,908 to Muhlsen discloses a training bat having a handle member with a shock absorbing coupler and a detachable elongated contact surface member coupled in the shock absorbing coupler. The detachable elongated contact surface member has a width significantly less than the width of a regular bat in order to enhance the eye-to-hand coordination to contact a pitched ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,299 to Denny discloses a suspended ball held by a flexible, resilient plate giving resistance to the batter's swing. The baseball teaching device allows the development of striking skills of a player by emulating a force with which a ball travels before being hit by a player.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,384 to Hardison, Jr. discloses a bat swing guide, which includes a vertical support member and an arcuate guide attached at one end to the vertical support member. The arcuate guide may be positioned to accommodate a right handed or left handed hitter. A pivoting tee is attached to the vertical support member for supporting the ball and an adjustable bat stop is attached to the arcuate guide.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,984 to Brockhoff discloses a practice baseball bat with an elongated shaft having a hand-grip portion at one end and an elongated enlarged cylindrical ball contact portion extending intermediate the ends of the shaft and adjacent the other end of the shaft. The hand-grip portion has a plurality of spaced apart and aligned raised portions which extend between the fingers of a batter's hands so that when the bat is swung, the raised portions will be moved from a first up position to a position in the direction of which the bat is swung.
One or more of these prior art devices may provide a training and/or a strengthening device. However, these prior art devices are generally mechanically complex and costly to build. Additionally, none of these prior art devices provides a bat training device specifically designed to properly train a batter in developing maximum resistance and wrist speed or wrist snap at the proper impact site when hitting a ball. Furthermore, none of these prior art devices provides a bat training device which contains a ridge line for proper hand placement around the bat.